Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, sports commentator, game show host, and podcaster. Getting his start in the stand-up circuit in the Boston area in the late '80s, Joe eventually found his way to Hollywood. After a starring in a few failed pilots (that Joe himself describes as awful), he found his first big success in NewsRadio on NBC, playing Joe Garelli.
Soon, Joe would find other projects while his stand-up career also blossomed. A lifelong martial arts practitioner and aficionado, he was a huge fan of the emerging sport of Mixed Martial Arts and got a job as a backstage interviewer for the UFC, eventually moving to the color commentator position alongside Mike Goldberg, although due to the expansion of the UFC and the amount of shows they now put on and his own crazy schedule, now only does the pay-per-views and the FOX shows. But he's probably most famous for being the host of the Fear Factor game show on NBC, which he has partial ownership of (and hosted a one-season revival in 2012). He also hosted the much derided last season of The Man Show with Doug Stanhope. He had his own show on Syfy, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, a show delving into conspiracies and the unknown, with a unique neutral take on the subject, mixing optimistic excitement with leveled skepticism. So far it has only aired one season.
Joe started a podcast on his website in late 2009, near the start of the podcast boom; it was originally updated on a weekly basis but over time expanded to five days a week on YouTube, iTunes, etc. to become one of the most popular podcasts in the world. This was due to interviewing everyone from close friends in the MMA world, conspiracy theorists and stand-up comedians to big name actors, directors, writers, scientists, academics and politicians. Many of his stand-up specials have aired on Comedy Central and Netflix.
Joe Rogan's work provides examples of:
- Berserk Button:
- Comics who steal material from others. His verbal beatdown of Carlos Mencia at the Comedy Store for this practice was a viral sensation on the net.
- Contestants physically fighting on his shows like Fear Factor. On one occasion Rogan confronted a contestant
who punched another, only to lead to a scuffle that had to be broken up by The Miz. - Questionable judging in the UFC.
- Questionable (or any) stand-ups from the ground position (once, epically, during the Randy Couture/Tim Sylvia fight)
- Also, people spilling ice in the cage.
- The frequency of accidental eye pokes during UFC events has led to Rogan railing against the standard open-fingered gloves.
- Also guys who wear regular, off-the-shelf jocks in MMA. Too many fights, in his opinion, get halted for long periods of time after accidental kicks to the groin. He feels regular cups offer next to no protection to the powerful kicks MMA fighters throw, and rails for everyone to switch to the Muy Thai steel cup or a similar designed-for-kickboxing jock, which he feels would lessen the recovery time needed.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Very interested in the supernatural, advanced science, New Age subjects, sensory deprivation and various conspiracy theories.
- Conspiracy Theorist:
- Rogan was a skeptic of the moon landings for a while, but has backed off on the position. He now no longer disputes that NASA went to the moon, but still questions the authenticity of some of the video footage. As a rule, he doesn't trust anything the government tells him.
- He still is a strong opponent against the single shooter theory in regards to JFK.
- Though not a 9/11 conspiracist per se, he questions the fall of Tower 7.
- He's taken this hobby to his own show on Syfy, Joe Rogan Questions Everything. From the show, he has been shown to find the chemtrail theory "completely silly" and while he strongly desires to believe in Bigfoot, he's incredibly skeptical that they actually exist. Additionally, he's still open to the idea of aliens, believing they must exist somewhere, but is leaning towards heavy skepticism if they ever have visited us.
- His podcast also has featured (and gone under fire for) numerous guests who fall into this, such as UFO enthusiast Bob Lazar and InfoWars host Alex Jones.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not so much in his stand-up act, but often on Fear Factor and on his podcast and occasionally during UFC broadcasts.Joe: (describing the technical aspects of a fight in which the two fighters end up on the ground in the "north south" position, which resembles, well, a 69)... and the people are laughing now because they are children.
- Doing It for the Art: He works for the UFC out of love for martial arts, and did so even when in the early days both prestige of the events and pay were considered below a comedian on a popular sitcom. Still true these days, although now, according to Dana White "Joe gets paid". His podcast is similar, finding his life far more interesting interviewing a wide variety of people even though it's more money out of his pocket than anything else. Between all that and stand up comedy he doesn't make nearly as much as he could, but thanks to News Radio and Fear Factor he doesn't have to worry too much about that.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners:
- Doug Stanhope. Also his regular opening act Joey Diaz.
- In the fight game he is very close with Eddie Bravo (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach under whom he got a black belt) and Mike Goldberg (his commentating partner).
- Kid Sidekick: His podcast assistant, Jamie Vernon, while a full grown man, still sometimes goes by "Young Jamie".
- Money, Dear Boy:
- His reason for doing Fear Factor. Due to being shrewd in his contract negotiation with NBC to host, he ended up with a partial ownership of the show (neither he nor NBC apparently thought the show would be the hit it turned out to be). $20 million later and a revival on the way...
- While Doug Stanhope is the one who said this was true of The Man Show, it's not beyond reason to assume that Rogan felt the same way.
- Prematurely Bald: Somewhat unusually, he was very open about prematurely balding in his twenties and getting a (bad) hair transplant. Recently, he gave up trying to keep it and just shaved it all off (his transplant scar is now visible on the back of his head). Ironically, many think he now looks like his boss Dana White...
- Scars Are Forever: He has an ear-to-ear scar on the back of his head from when he had hair implants in his mid-twenties. He admitted that he regrets getting hair implants and says he should have just shaved his head from the beginning since the implants only delayed the inevitable.
- Sophisticated as Hell: He uses Self-Deprecation that he is just a stupid meathead, but he is fascinated with a wide range of topics and in turn is surprisingly well informed and quizzical (which also fuels his Conspiracy Theorist tendencies). He's been told by several guests on his podcast, among them scientists, politicians and psychologists, that he is friendly but also one of the most shrewd and intimidating interviewers they ever deal with, and this is in between him making dirty jokes or talking about marijuana.
- The Stoner: A very vocal proponent of marijuana. Is also a fan of psychedelics and sensory deprivation.
...His last name is Rogan?
